Digital future of sound broadcasting in VHF - lessons learnt from Central Europe

摘要

In roughly two decades there have been variousattempts for rolling-out digital sound broadcastingstandards in VHF. The world players in the radio markethave had very different positions. Service providers werelooking forward to the availability of cheap receivers,whereas equipment manufacturers were looking forward toa large availability of digital services. The process ofdigitalization in sound broadcasting has not been thatdominating as for digital TV broadcasting. For thedigitalization of terrestrial sound broadcasting and thereplacement of the analogue FM technology, with HDRadio, DRM+ and DAB/DAB+ there are differenttechnologies of terrestrial broadcasting available in theVHF frequency band. Nevertheless, FM as analoguetechnology for sound broadcasting still dominates largeparts of the world due to high penetration of cheap receiversfor an old, but well-established technology. Since thediffusion of digital radio has experienced more challengesthan digital TV, this paper focuses on the example of CentralEurope and DAB/DAB+, discussing the difficulties digitalsound broadcasting technology has been facing. Referring tosome potential barriers, an idea can emerge, how equipmentmanufacturers and other key technology players canfacilitate the diffusion of new sound broadcasting standards,such as HD Radio.